August 13, 2013

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 37 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover several key patents ranging from a new projection system through to a design patent relating to curved glass.

Apple Granted Patent for a Projection System

Apple has been granted a patent today for an invention relating to a new projection system and more specifically, to methods and apparatus for remote interaction with projector systems. Various embodiments involve a projector system comprising a projector, a camera, a processor and a communication interface.

The client and/or auxiliary devices may include an iPhone, iPod touch or MacBook. It's relation to a MacBook was later described in this 2010 patent application. It's relation to an iPhone and/or iPad was covered in this 2011 patent application.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a projection system; FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of auxiliary calibration of the projection system of FIG. 1 using a remote device.

We first covered Apple's projection system patent application back in March 2010. Apple credits Brandon Slack, David Falkenburg and Reese Cutler as the inventors of this granted patent which was originally filed in Q3 2008 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. To review today's 32 granted patent claims and details, see Apple's granted patent 8,508,671.

Apple Granted Patent Relating to MacBooks with Cellular Connectivity

Apple has been granted a patent today for their invention relating to electronic device antennas, and more particularly, to antennas for electronic devices with conductive housings.

Apple states that antenna operation can be blocked by intervening metal structures. This can make it difficult to implement an antenna in an electronic device that contains conductive display structures, conductive housing walls, or other conductive structures that can potentially block radio-frequency signals. Apple's granted patent provides a number of work arounds that use single or dual-band slot antennas supporting various communication services such as 3G for data and/or voice.

Apple credits Douglas Kough, Gregory Springer, Bing Chiang, Enrique Vazquez and Hao Xu as the inventors of this granted patent which was originally filed in Q3 2012 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. To review today's 18 granted patent claims and details, see Apple's granted patent 8,508,418. You could also review Apple's other Cellular MacBook Patents here.

Other Granted Patents of Interest Published Today

Apple has been granted great number of multitouch related patents over the years and each is important to fend off copycat designers such as Samsung. Just this week the ITC ruled that a key Apple touchscreen patent was infringed upon by Samsung.

Today, the US Patent and Trademark Office have granted Apple two new touchscreen related patents worth noting. The first is titled "Touch sensor panels with reduced static capacitance," and is covered by 28 patent claims. The second is titled "Display with dual-function capacitive elements" and is covered by 36 patent claims.

From Apple's first granted patent relating to touchscreens we see patent FIG. 9A noted below illustrating an exemplary touch and display array with reduced static capacitance in which the number of "dummy" negative xVcom lines in the drive region are reduced.

From Apple's second granted patent relating to touchscreens we see patent FIG. 6A noted below illustrating a partial view of an example touch screen having regions of pixels with dual-function capacitive elements that operate as LCD elements and as touch sensors.

The third patent of interest is titled "Methods and graphical user interfaces for editing on a multifunction device with a touch screen display." Considering that Apple basically reinvented the touchscreen for use with finger touch based devices like the iPhone, being granted a patent for editing could end up being another powerful patent that Apple will be able to use in future litigation.

Apple Granted 4 Design Patents Today

Apple has been granted 4 new design patents today which cover iPad packaging, a Nike + iPod interface, Apple's settings Interface and for building panels. Apple filed a patent application for their Shanghai Apple Store Glass panel design back in April 2012 for the technical side of the design. Today, Apple was granted a design patent covering the Apple Store's curved glass panels. Signature Apple Stores that showcase Glass Stairs and Housings was a project that Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs was passionately involved in over the years. In today's design win, Steve Jobs is listed as one of the designers/inventors.

The Remaining Patents that were granted to Apple Today

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.